Chapter 12: Preparation Day

Now even though Charlie Brown was unable to properly monitor and oversee everyone's song and dance rehearsals at the theater for their first show that would be held the next night due to him being very busy at home with Rebecca's party,thankfully the day of rehearsal still went by very smoothly without any major problems at all thanks to Linus being put in charge of things in Charlie Brown's place. Not to mention that Snoopy and Lucy were seen by the rest of the gang as the unofficial co-directors since they ended up going around and doing Linus's job for him whenever he was on break,all under the guise of helping him out when really they just wanted the extra attention.

It was around high noon and everyone was continuing to practice their songs and dance routines in preparation for the big show which included Ed and Rebecca practicing their big song for the opening act along with the rest of the gang who were relegated to backup singers and dancers,and the same thing happened with Freida and her big song,with some extra help from Franklin since Charlie Brown wasn't there to practice in the second leading role. After about ten more minutes of practicing,Linus's attention would suddenly be diverted away from overlooking the rehearsals and over to the theater's phone back stage as he promptly excused himself and went over to answer the blaring phone.

"Sparkyville Community Theater,Linus Van Pelt speaking." Linus answered the phone and introduced himself in a calm and professional tone of voice before the voice of none other than Charlie Brown answered from the other end "Hey there Linus,it's me,how are things going with the rehearsals?" to which Linus perked up and cheerfully replied with a small smile "Oh it's just you Charlie Brown,actually things are going by very smoothly,it's honestly a little bit of a surprise. How are things going with the party planning?"

Charlie Brown then turned around and took a quick look at the cluttered mess that was his living room due to there being party declarations everywhere before he turned back around and nonchalantly retorted "I think Pig-Pen in a snowstorm would be less messy than what my house is right now. But at least I managed to bake the cake right." to which Linus grew a look of concern and asked "Do you need some of us to come over and help you? We've practically perfected our rehearsals and have nothing else left to do for the day."

"I suppose I could use a little bit of help. Yeah y'all can come over and help if you want to,just make sure that Rebecca doesn't find out about the party until the right time. In fact to be safe,I recommend you drop her off at her house first,and then come over here." Charlie Brown sighed and admitted that he could use some help with the party as Linus nodded his head and obliged to come over "All right,we'll be over in a little bit. I'll round everyone up" before he hung up,headed back to the middle of the stage and called out "Group meeting everyone! Group meeting!"

Instantly everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered round Linus as he cleared his throat and announced "I've noticed that you all have been doing a phenomenal job with your rehearsals,and I'm fairly confident that we'll rock everyone's socks off tomorrow AND during our second show. In fact to show my confidence in this prediction,I propose that we all take the rest of the day off." to which Lucy cheerfully laughed in agreement "You bet we should Linus,we've got this whole thing in the bag!" before Freida rolled her eyes and added "I suppose we could take a breather,we'll still have tomorrow morning and afternoon to practice."

"Anything to make sure I get the rest of the day off." Violet also agreed with Linus's idea to take the rest of the day off as Shermy shrugged his arms and showed mostly indifference to the prospect "Hey I'll do whatever y'all do." before Pig-Pen,Patty Swanson and Scheroder nodded their heads in agreement to which Rebecca happily showed her support "I'm with you Linus,we're definitely gonna make it big with the show tomorrow. Had to practice some dancing with Ed last night just to be extra safe."

"Wait,Ed's a dancer outside of the stage?" Peppermint Patty raised an eyebrow and asked in bewilderment that Ed had the slightest bit of dancing skills beyond his role as the boy patted Rebecca on the shoulder and smugly confirmed that he was "Yep I sure am Patty. Taught this girl some of my best moves last night." to which Linus chuckled and joked while they all started to make their way outside "You know Ed,you are the human incarnation of a mystery that continues to unfold. I think even Sherlock Holmes would have some trouble solving you."

"So Ed how did you learn to dance then?" Marcie brushed Linus's joke about Ed aside and asked out of curiosity as the boy placed his hand on his chin for a few moments and pondered "Well if my memory is correct,back when I used to live in the orphanage,I always had to take dancing classes with the rest of the kids. You see every couple months we'd hold a dance competition and the winner would receive fifty bucks to spend in the outside world. I never won any of them." before Pig-Pen suddenly perked up and enthusiastically remarked "Actually speaking of money,we still got a lot of it left,what should we do with it?"

"Charlie Brown told me we would likely add that towards our debt paying fund. Maybe we could do that?" Rebecca calmly answered and suggested that they add the rest of the money towards the debt they needed to pay as Peppermint Patty nodded her head and cheerfully agreed "Alright then,that's exactly what we'll do. It never hurts to try and plan ahead with these kind of things." before Patty Swanson enthusiastically added "And maybe we can make some of those lovely acorns that Charlie Brown brought us last night,sell some of those tomorrow and add that towards the fund too."

"Yep you see? We're gonna make so much bank off of this we'll still have plenty to spare when we're done." Lucy ecstatically agreed with the idea and relished in the possibly of having some money left over for themselves before Linus happily agreed with his sister while they made it outside and headed onto the bus "I don't say this very often,but Lucy is right,we'll have more than enough money to pay the bank along with James's percent,and we'll still have plenty to spare."

However before Snoopy started up the bus and took off for their neighborhood,Linus slowly walked up to the dog and politely whispered to him "Hey Snoopy,we need to make sure to take Rebecca home first,we need to head over to Charlie Brown's place to help him prepare for her party,and we can't let her find out about it now. Can you do that?" to which the beagle turned around in the driver's seat and saluted before Linus smiled and showed him his gratitude while he headed to his seat "Thanks,I'll see if Charlie Brown can reward you for this."


As part of Linus's little request for Snoopy,Rebecca was the very first one to make it back home since the beagle deliberately took a longer route that would allow them to make it to her house before anyone else's as the girl got out of her seat and bid everyone farewell for the day "Okay I'm off,see you all for the big day tomorrow!" before she exited the bus and headed inside her house,with her being unaware of what was going to unfold that very night.

"Alright everyone,now we can finally talk about the party!" Linus clasped his hands together and enthusiastically announced in relief now that Rebecca was gone to which Snoopy,Woodstock,Amy and the rest of his family cheered in excitement,while Ed on the other hand raised an eyebrow and replied in confusion "Huh? A party? No one told me anything about a party." to which Marcie sighed and explained it all to Ed while she cleaned her glasses "It's Rebecca's birthday today and Charles is holding a party for her tonight at his place. I'm actually starting to suspect that she's forgotten it's her birthday."

"Yeah and that's the reason I called off rehearsals for the rest of the day,so we could go over there and help him out. That's also why Snoopy took the longer route to make sure Rebecca got home first." Linus nodded his head and backed Marcie's statement up as Violet sighed and quietly murmured to herself "Well there goes my day off then." before Peppermint Patty happily continued "Not to mention that almost everyone we know is gonna be there,that girl's gonna love it,especially since she loves her some surprises."

"Well I'll be,I wish I could surprise her with something there myself." Ed chuckled and hopefully remarked as he leaned on the side of his bus seat window and glanced at some of the passing by buildings,but it was when they passed by what looked like a clothing store for special occasions that Ed suddenly got an idea in mind as he perked up and called out "Stop the bus!" to which Snoopy instantly pulled on the brakes and caused some of the others to nearly fly to the front window.

"Ed what in the world was that about?" A woozy and dumbfounded Linus asked in a mixture of confusion and nausea as Ed got out of his seat and promptly explained himself while he made his way over to the front door "I'll...catch up with you guys in a little bit,I got my own surprise planned for Rebecca. Lemme out please." before Snoopy opened the door and let Ed step on out.

"Are you sure Ed,it's still a little bit of a walk to our neighborhood from here?" Scheroder politely asked with a little bit of concern in his voice as Ed merely scoffed and retorted in disagreement "Little bit of a walk? Please I walked all the way down the Grand Canyon once." to which Linus sighed and reluctantly obliged to let him go "Alright then Ed,just try to hurry up if you can,the more help we have with the party the better." before Ed stepped on out of the bus and onto the sidewalk.

Once Snoopy started the bus back up and continued to make his way towards Charlie Brown's house,Ed turned around behind him and walked down the sidewalk for a few short moments before he finally came face to face with the clothing store they passed by,and it allowed him to get a better view of the place and see that it was called "Mendelson's Clothing Store. Get The Perfect Outfit For Any Occasion."